Assessment of Prescription Completeness and Drug Use Pattern in Tibebe-Ghion Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Introduction. Irrational medicine use is a global problem, and one of its manifestation is inappropriate prescribing that occurs when medicines are not prescribed in accordance with the guideline. Objective. The aim of the study was to assess prescription completeness and drug use pattern of the hospital using the WHO core drug use indicators. Methods. 1000 prescriptions were collected retrospectively from prescriptions written for 1 year from outpatient pharmacies of the hospital. Exit interview was employed to assess patient care indicators. The health facility indicators were checked by assessing the presence of drug formulary and availability of key medicines at the facility. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results. It was found that only name of the patients was filled in all the prescriptions. Other informations were below the standard. The average number of drugs per prescription was 1.65. Percentages of encounter by generic name, with antibiotic and injections, were 85.78%, 41%, and 25%, respectively. The percentage of drugs prescribed from an essential drug list was 98.48%. The mean consultation time and dispensing time were 14.49 and 2.16 minutes, respectively. More than half patients had knowledge on drug dispensed to them (68%). The percentage of drugs actually dispensed was 65%, but none of the drugs dispensed were adequately labelled. A copy of EDL and 84% of the key drugs were available in the hospital. Conclusion. From the results of our study, it can be concluded that all prescriptions were not complete, and except the average number of drugs prescribed per encounter, the other drug use pattern indicators were out of the WHO recommendation. Therefore, effective intervention program, like training, for promotion of rational drug use practice was recommended.

Assessment of Service Quality at Community Pharmacies in the City of Belgrade, Republic of Serbia / Procena Kvaliteta Usluge U Apotekama U Gradu Beogradu, Republika Srbija

ABSTRACT One of the principles of rational drug use is informing patients about their prescribed drug and its effects. A pharmacist has to contribute to safe and appropriate drug use and give patients adequate drug information. Service quality in pharmacies is examined by measuring drug use indicators provided by the World Health Organisation. Indicators relevant for pharmacies include patient care indicators and health facility indicators. The goal of this paper is to measure indicators of drug use in both private and state-owned pharmacies. Drug use indicators were measured prospectively in private and state-owned-owned pharmacies in Belgrade, Serbia. The study is designed as a cross-sectional study. The research was conducted withon 100 patients at each of 14 pharmacies, 7 of which were state-owned and 7 of which were private. Pharmacies were selected randomly. Drug use indicators were not significantly different between private and state-owned pharmacies, except for their essential drugs lists. To improve pharmaceutical health care and achieve rational pharmacotherapy, all pharmacists should dedicate more time to patients.

Evaluation of drug use in Jordan using WHO patient care and health facility indicators

We prospectively studied current drug use in Jordan in 21 primary health care facilities in northern Jordan over a three-month period, using World Health Organization-recommended indicators. Both the mean time spent on physician-patient consultations [3.9 +/- 3.5 minutes] and mean pharmacy dispensing time [28.8 +/- 23.7 seconds] were short, resulting in a mean patient knowledge of prescribed drug dose of 77.7%. No centre had an essential drugs list and/or formulary available. An average of 80% of key drugs were available at centres. Baseline data gathered by this study can be used by researchers and policymakers to monitor and improve pharmaceutical prescribing and consumption practices in Jordan.